Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced 5G in October 2022, users in India have used about 3.6 times as much mobile data traffic as 4G users, according to a report released on Wednesday.
Additionally, in 2023, the average monthly data traffic per user increased by 24% year over year to reach 24.1 gigabytes per user per month.
In India, the ecosystem for 5G devices is developing quickly; of the 796 million active 4G devices, 134 million are now 5G capable. This represents 17% of the total.
“5G data consumption has been four times faster than 4G in India”, according to the ‘Nokia Mobile Broadband Index’ report.
Users used 17.4 exabytes per month in 2023, growing at a rate of 26% over the previous five years.
According to the findings, the introduction of 5G has emerged as a major catalyst for the increase in data usage, accounting for 15% of all data traffic in 2023.
Tarun Chhabra, Head of Mobile Networks Business at Nokia (India), stated, “What is immediately obvious is the incredible proliferation of 5G technology across India and the increasing demand for super-fast 5G data speeds.”
All telecom circles have seen significant increases in 5G traffic, with metro areas leading the way and accounting for 20% of all mobile data traffic.
According to the report, future 5G growth will be accelerated by improved 5G availability and performance, a wide range of reasonably priced devices, and the launch of new data-intensive apps and services.
According to the report, 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) users are anticipated to use 2.5 times more data than average 5G users, making FWA a crucial enabler for new services in both the home and business.